The story begins after Tally undergoes surgery. As a new pretty, she lives in New Pretty Town, partying it up, wearing beautiful clothes, and pulling stunts. Then, one of the parties Tally attends gets crashed by Croy, a Smokie she knew from her time at the Smoke. With the help of Zane, the leader of the Crims clique-and her crush-Tally follows Croy's instructions. At the top of a building, she and Zane find two pills-the cure to lesions in the brain caused by the pretty surgery.
To avoid the Specials, they each take one pill. The pills effectively cure them both, but Zane starts to get crippling headaches. Realizing that something's up, the Specials put tracking cuffs on both Zane and Tally in order to spy on them. In order not to draw more attention to their behavioral changes, Tally and Zane encourage the other Crims to act "bubbly" using caffeine and adrenalin. This results in a huge prank that makes the Crims clique famous. When a "bubbly" Shay remembers that Tally betrayed the Smoke, she breaks off their friendship and forms the "Cutters" clique that centers around self-harm (well, cutters).
A few days later, Zane and Tally take a trip to "Uglytown" where they meet up with some Smokies who take them to see Shay.
Suddenly, Zane collapses from one of his headaches and Tally takes him to the hospital. Realizing that Zane needs to be treated by Maddy, they form a plan to go to the Smoke. After Zane, in a fit of desperation, threatens to use an industrial tool to cut off his cuffs, he and Tally discover that heat causes the cuffs to expand. Using heat-proof gloves, they are able to remove the cuffs. The Crims steal a hot-air balloon to take them to the Smoke. However, when Paris distracts Tally by deciding not to go at the last possible moment, she is on her own.
Although she overcomes many obstacles, Tally still might not be able to save the people she cares about.
Pretties draws attention to the struggle of putting other people before oneself. It also reflects that impact one person's actions can make on an entire society...and the consequences of those actions.
5 out of 5 stars
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